


In Vino Veritas

by panpipe



Category: Super Junior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-24
Updated: 2008-10-24
Packaged: 2017-10-13 04:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panpipe/pseuds/panpipe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryeowook can only admit his feelings when he's drunk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Vino Veritas

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://panpipe.livejournal.com/90300.html#cutid1).

The day Lee Sooman announces that yes, Henry will be in Super Junior-M, and yes, so will Joomyuk, and yes, they (and the fans) will just have to deal with things, Ryeowook suggests that maybe they should all go out together, grab a drink, and have a little fun. "The atmosphere," he says, "has gotten a bit heavy, hasn't it?"

Henry thinks he might as well just say it blandly -- life is going to fucking suck for the next few months -- but that's the weird thing about Asia, and Asian languages. Everything is so damn _polite_.

Henry agrees, because he's tired, and exhausted, and he knows that he's going to have even more work every day, now that he actually has a group to belong to. He's already been having singing lessons and dance lessons and Korean lessons, but they've all been extremely general--now he'll have songs to memorize, songs that he's actually going to perform, and Henry doesn't know if Lee Sooman put him in the Chinese subgroup because he's Taiwanese, but he thinks that if that is why, Lee Sooman has another thing coming. Henry's Chinese is incomprehensible.

Hmph, he thinks. _Belong_. As if he could ever belong to anything related to Super Junior -- all he did was play violin in _one fucking song_ and already he has almost three-fourths of the entire female population of Korea turned against him, and wishing him bodily harm. I guess, he sighs, this means that now the entirety of the Korean female population will hate me.

It's so strange that their speech is so polite, he thinks, when the fans are all ready to rip his throat out. (Which he'd really like to avoid, because he likes having a throat, thank you very much.)

 

Sungmin normally waits for him at the end of the day, which Henry has completely forgotten about due to the news of him being in a Super Junior subgroup. It doesn't look like Sungmin has heard the news, though, because his eyes light up when he sees Henry walking out of the practice room, and he says, cheerfully, pulling at his blonde hair out of habit, "Hey, want to grab something to eat before heading back to the dorms?"

When Henry just stares at him blankly -- well, blanker than usual; it was a curse to be born with such squinty eyes, because no one can ever tell what sort of expression he's wearing unless he completely overdoes things -- Sungmin realizes that _something_ is not right. His face falls, and he looks concerned. "Is everything alright?"

He's about to tell Sungmin not to worry, that everything is fine, but -- Fuck that, Henry thinks, because everything is _not_ fine. He wants to cry for the first time since the second grade, when Tommy Wang broke his violin after music lessons.

"They announced the China subgroup," Henry says, and nothing else.

Sungmin's concerned face immediately turns into that of a sympathetic friend. He bites at his lower lip, and says, "I guess this means you're in it, doesn't it," and they stand in silence in the company lobby, because there's not much to say that they haven't already discussed. Sungmin has held Henry's hand for a long time while he's been at the company, has been the one Henry came to when he was homesick or when he was worried or felt threatened by a particularly crazy anti and -- Well. Sungmin has always known how Henry feels about being associated with Super Junior.

The bottom line is, he just doesn't like it.

Henry nods, and Sungmin takes his hand, and squeezes it, and asks, "What are your plans for tonight?"

"Oh, well -- " he begins, but he's interrupted by a much higher pitched voice coming from the elevators. He and Sungmin turn, to find the rest of the newly formed Super Junior China exiting the elevators -- Ryeowook leading the group, Donghae and Siwon and Hankyung talking in whispered voices, Kyuhyun walking a little behind, and Joomyuk -- no, Zhou Mi, he thinks -- walking the furthest behind of them all, looking slightly lost, but still smiling that same bright smile.

"Henry's plans are going to the bars!" Ryeowook shouts loudly. "We're going to get smashed and bond!"

Henry thinks he sees a muscle tick in Sungmin's jaw, but he doesn't get a chance to ask because Ryeowook has already grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the doors.

He looks back at Sungmin, feeling lost and floundering, and like all of his anxiety is written all over his face and _why is Sungmin the only one who realizes how he feels about this_ and --

Sungmin grabs his arm and yanks him so close that Sungmin's lips brush his ear as he whispers, "Watch out for Ryeowook when he gets past 10 drinks, okay?" He releases Henry, and frowns as they drag him away. Sungmin crosses his arms, and sighs so loudly a puff of air blows at his bangs.

Henry begins to dread the night more than he had been -- which is rather impressive, because before this there hadn't been even an inch of Henry that had wanted to go drinking that night.

 

What Sungmin had failed to mention was that Ryeowook, despite his size, can drink almost anyone he meets under the table. When Sungmin had warned Henry to watch out for Ryeowook after 10 drinks, he had assumed that Sungmin meant Ryeowook would be completely incapacitated and that Henry would have to take care of Ryeowook, and maybe hold his head as he vomited.

In actuality, Ryeowook's handling of alcohol is exactly the opposite of Henry's imagination. Henry can't even start to recognize the effect of the alcohol in Ryeowook's system until Ryeowook has already knocked back five shots, and even then, the effects are miniscule at best. It puts most of Henry's friends back in Canada to shame, and Henry (for the most part, anyway) didn't hang out with lightweights either.

Henry's been watching Ryeowook nervously, ever since he began to suspect that Ryeowook was not quite what he had seemed -- mild-mannered, shy, reserved, a million other boring adjectives come to mind -- and is instead, something rather different.

When Ryeowook has hit eight drinks, and is already working on his ninth and tenth, Henry begins to suspect what Sungmin had been trying to warn him about. It would have been nice, Henry thinks angrily, if Sungmin could have been more specific.

Ryeowook's arm drapes across Henry's back, and suddenly his face is inches from Henry's. Henry blinks, and would have moved back if it weren't for Ryeowook's arm.  He thinks he sees Ryeowook's eyes dart down to his lips, and instantly, unconsciously, he squeaks and shrugs Ryeowook off him, laughing nervously.

Ryeowook pouts, his lower lip jutting out, and he turns to look away from Henry, while Henry instead looks around the table at the others. No, not just "the others," but "the other members," he thinks, and it's a weird thought--not just because his mind is starting to get fuzzy and sticky and it's hard to focus on things, but because he's finally a part of something concrete in the company.

Donghae claps him on the back. He thinks he hears him saying something about liquor, and maybe he's saying Henry can hold his liquor well. At least, he's pretty sure that's what Donghae said, but it's hard enough to understand Korean on a normal day, and even harder slightly inebriated.

When he realizes he's having trouble understanding Korean, he thinks that maybe he should eat something and not have another drink for an hour. (He tells Donghae that of course he can hold his liquor, he wasn't a social outcast in high school, but Donghae just looks at him strangely and either Henry misunderstood Donghae's question, or Henry's Korean no longer makes even the slightest bit of sense. He suspects it is the latter.)

A half hour passes, and now Ryeowook is on his fifteenth drink, and Henry's starting to fear for his virtue. Well, what's left of his virtue. This is definitely _not_ what he had been expecting from tonight, and when he sends pleading glances at the rest of the guys, they just laugh and egg Ryeowook on.

Ryeowook's hand moves further up his thigh--dangerously further--and Henry yelps and stands up. He's still somewhat sober, just _slightly_ inebriated really, and he's pretty sure he can still manage to hail a cab, so he says, stuttering, "I-I'm going to leave. I-I've got practice e-early tomorrow, so I'll j-just see you guys later! Night!"

"You can't leave now," Siwon slurs, and pulls at Henry's wrist. Henry has noticed that Siwon likes kissing, a _lot_ , while inebriated and Henry doesn't want to be the next victim, since he's already been nearly molested by Ryeowook the entire night, and pulls his hand back.

"Sorry," he murmurs, "but I really have to go."

"I'll walk you out!" Ryeowook shouts. Henry is pretty sure Ryeowook believes that to be his normal speaking voice, which is kind of hilarious, considering Ryeowook's normal speaking voice is nearly a whisper.

"Er," Henry says, "n-no, that's really o--" He shrieks as Ryeowook's arm loops around his waist. "It's really fine," Henry insists, staring resolutely at the wall and _not_ at Ryeowook. "You don't have to worry about me."

"But you're my cute dongsaeng," Ryeowook insists, and the next thing Henry knows, he's waiting outside the bar, in the cold, waiting for a cab.

It takes twenty minutes before Henry's finally climbing in the cab--something he's extremely grateful to finally be doing, considering those last twenty minutes consisted of Ryeowook trying to touch Henry (rather inappropriately, in Henry's opinion), and Henry having to shove him off--only to be attacked five minutes later.

"Thanks for waiting with me, Ryeowook," Henry says, because even though he's angry and annoyed and really pissed at Ryeowook, his mother taught him to always be polite and he knows that Ryeowook really was doing him a favor, even though he's pretty sure Ryeowook was mainly doing the favor for himself. Henry makes a mental note to never let himself be alone with a drunken Ryeowook ever again.

And it's while Henry is thinking through all of this that Ryeowook crosses that final line, and one minute Henry is staring at Ryeowook and the next minute he's thinking, Gross, that was a wet one.

He backs into the cab and slams the door shut, crosses his arms, frustratedly huffs, and doesn't look back.

 

Henry tries avoiding Ryeowook the next day, but somehow Siwon and Hankyung find Henry, and bring him to where Super Junior is rehearsing.

He wants to leave, he wants to go, but he _can't_ because his mother taught him to be polite, and he doesn't want to offend Siwon. But when he sees Eeteuk's forced smile, and sees how Eunhyuk's expression shuts down, and how he engages Donghae in a one-on-one conversation, Henry wishes a hole would open up in the floor and swallow him whole. Henry would like to think he's overreacting, but he's pretty sure Eunhyuk doesn't want Henry getting close to his friend, and Eeteuk--well Eeteuk is worried about what this will do to their fans. To be honest, Henry's worried about it too.

It soon becomes apparent that the group had been discussing the previous night.

"It was hilarious," Siwon says. "You should have seen Henry scream."

Henry flushes.

And then he notices that Ryeowook flushes as well. "Was I really that bad?" Ryeowook asks.

"When are you _not_?" Yesung asks, laughing. Kyuhyun laughs and agrees, shoving Ryeowook's shoulder, and knocking him off-balance.

As the conversation continues, Henry realizes that, thankfully, Ryeowook doesn't remember much of the night. He's hoping that he doesn't ever remember, especially the very end, because Henry has _also_ realized that if the rest of Super Junior ever hears about the kiss, Siwon and Donghae will never let it go. The rest of the afternoon is spent alternatively poking fun at Ryeowook's inability to remember anything, and his inability to stop touching Henry last night.

Henry doesn't realize that Ryeowook's face is a matching shade of tomato red.

 

Henry doesn't go drinking with Super Junior-M again until after they've been in China for two weeks, and he's had plenty of time to forget his horror at the last experience.

He's been put at ease because Ryeowook hasn't tried to make any sort of move on him the entire time they've been together, and also because Ryeowook has been nothing but kind. He keeps fixing Henry meals, or draping a blanket over Henry when he falls asleep in the living room, or being the person Henry can lean on during TV shows, because Henry isn't used to this--isn't sure he'll ever get used to this--and Ryeowook knows how difficult those first few months can be.

When Ryeowook reaches five drinks, he starts leering at Henry.

Henry's glad he decided to sit across, not next to, Ryeowook this time.

"Henry has really nice eyes," Ryeowook slurs, poking Donghae's shoulder. "Don't you think so?"

Donghae looks at Henry, and Henry pretends to be absorbed in conversation with Siwon. "Yeah," he says, "he does."

Ryeowook makes a face, and sucks in a breath, glaring at Donghae. "You can't have him," he says.

Donghae laughs. " _What_?"

"He's mine," Ryeowook says. "I've decided."

Donghae starts to laugh again, and Henry's stomach feels funny, and at first he's worried it's because of what Ryeowook said. Or maybe because Siwon seems to have decided that Henry should be his next kissing victim.

That's when he vomits on Siwon's lap.

 

It wasn't quite so strange in Korea, when Ryeowook's inebriated actions had been even more forward, because Henry didn't have to _see_ Ryeowook every day. But here, in China, even though Ryeowook didn't do anything, only made a few suggestive comments, Henry feels extremely awkward.

Especially because he seems to be the only one who remembers what Ryeowook said. He's always been cursed with an extremely good memory, no matter how drunk he becomes, and it seems like no one else in Super Junior-M shares his problem, except for maybe Donghae, who has been giving him sly looks all morning.

Ryeowook leans his head on Henry's shoulder during filming, like normal, and Henry has to fight the urge to jump back--he manages to only flinch slightly.

Ryeowook looks at him questioningly, and Henry attempts a reassuring smile. Either the smile didn't work, or Ryeowook just doesn't believe him. Ryeowook seems to have an uncanny sixth sense for when Henry is trying to hide something, so it's probably the latter. It's strange, because it's times like that when Ryeowook reminds Henry of Sungmin--which is probably part of the reason Henry became so close so quickly to Ryeowook once they got to China.

Henry continues trying not to flinch when Ryeowook touches him that next morning, and he thinks that by the end of the program, he's mostly successful.

But he must not have been successful enough, because that night, as he heads to the kitchen, unable to sleep, he finds Ryeowook, bottle of beer in his hand, and six empty bottles surrounding him. And when Ryeowook sees his entrance, he scrambles to his feet, and staggers to stand before Henry, grabbing at his hand. "Why don't you want me to touch you anymore," he says, his voice tinged with a hint of despair.

"Er," Henry says, wondering how to respond to this. Not for the first time, he thinks, annoyed, that he would never have had to deal with something like this in Canada. "What makes you think that," he says, but it's not really a question, because Henry knows the answer.

"You didn't really touch me back before, you know," he says, "but you always let me touch _you_." Ryeowook still hasn't let go of Henry's hand, and he looks like he's about to fall down, and all Henry can think is that this is going to be the most awkward conversation of his entire life. And that he needs to be as drunk as Ryeowook to deal with this.

"Hold on," he says, and grabs the bottle from Ryeowook's hand, and downs it in one gulp.

"Okay, now we can talk."

 

When Donghae heads into the kitchen that morning, he finds Henry curled into Ryeowook's body, both of them sleeping on the couch. (And with a multitude of empty bottles beside them.)

He flops onto the couch and sits on Henry's torso. Henry yelps, and once he's officially awake, the first thing he notices is that _Donghae is sitting on him_ , and then he notices that his face is dangerously close to Ryeowook's. He yelps again, and falls off the couch, taking Donghae with him.

"Ow," Donghae says, laughing, rubbing the hip he hit the floor with.

"Sorry," Henry replies, abashed. "I didn't mean to do that."

Ryeowook opens an eye sleepily, and says, "Please don't talk so loudly. My head hurts."

Donghae grins deviously. "Want any breakfast?"

Ryeowook gags, hand flying to cover his mouth. He glares, then gags again, and runs to the bathroom. "I can't believe you would mention food to me at a time like this," he says miserably, and there's a pause before they hear heaving coming from the other room.

Donghae laughs again. "Just how much did you two drink last night?"

Henry rests his head in his hands. "Please don't remind me. I'd rather not think about it."

 

What Henry would rather not think about involves hands and lips and touching and--

And really, he'd just rather not remember.

 

But as much as Henry would prefer to forget those things, they keep flashing in his mind at the most random and inopportune moments. He remembers them mostly during filming, when Ryeowook grabs his hand, or leans on his shoulder, or when Henry wraps his arms around Ryeowook's waist without thinking.

But worst of all is when he remembers it late at night, right as he's about to fall asleep, because then he tosses and turns the rest of the time, and only sleeps for two hours at most.

When that happens three nights in a row, he finally accepts the inevitable: Henry Lau _likes_ Kim Ryeowook.

 

He decides to try discussing things with Donghae first, because Donghae, despite his carefree attitude, _notices_ things, and he often notices them before anyone else does. Donghae has just never seen the point in telling anyone else what he's found.

He is also still convinced that Donghae remembers what Ryeowook said to him that night.

"Hyung," Henry begins, licking his lips nervously. "I need to talk to you about something."

Donghae looks up from his video game, and the car goes crashing into a wall. "Do you want to play this game with me while we talk?" He gives him a lopsided smile. "It's boring playing alone."

Henry nods, noticing that it's a game he's played before--which means he'll understand how to play, even if he doesn't know what the Korean on the screen means. "Sure."

Donghae chooses a course where the cars have to leap through fire and fly off buildings, and as the round starts, he asks, "So what's been bothering you lately?" He bites his lips as he makes a sharp turn in the game. "I bet it has something to do with Ryeowook, right?"

Henry knew Donghae had noticed. He nods, then remembers that Donghae is completely focused on the television screen and can't see the movement. "Yeah," he mutters.

"I don't understand why you two are making this so difficult," he says. "It's obvious you both care about each other."

"Well, yeah," Henry says, rolling his eyes. It was impossible to _not_ notice how Ryeowook felt for him. He just wasn't sure how to make Ryeowook admit it while he was sober.

He says as much to Donghae, and Donghae grins, and pauses the game. He leans over Henry, and the grin changes to a lazy smile. "Just have sex with him. Or have sex with someone else and make sure he finds out about it. Either way is guaranteed to provoke a confession."

Henry loses his balance and hits his head on the floor. "Ow," he says. Then he looks at Donghae's laughing face and frowns. "Fuck you," he bites out. "I'm asking Sungmin for advice," he announces.

 

It's the first time Henry has talked to Sungmin in a while, and even though he'd heard some of the other Super Junior-M members talking about Super Junior Happy, he'd never really thought about the fact that he and Sungmin had never discussed it.

"So I cut my hair and the songs are all really peppy and fun and -- well I mean it's called Super Junior Happy, after all! And the dances are silly but I think things are more fun that way, don't you agree? I'd much rather be doing something fun even if I look like an idiot, which I guess our subgroup does compared to yours. But Super Junior-M always seems so _serious_ , don't you ever get tired of that? It's nice to have something completely different from Super Junior and Don't Don and-- Oh, hey, I'm sorry, did you have something you wanted to talk about?"

Henry had forgotten how much Sungmin liked to talk. "Er, it's not that big of a deal," he says softly.

"No, no, go ahead," Sungmin insists, and that's one of the things Henry had forgotten he liked about Sungmin. "I haven't heard from you in forever. Tell me how China's been treating you recently." No matter how much Sungmin likes to talk about himself, he always likes hearing about his friends _more_.

"I, er, well, it's about Ryeowook; I'm just not sure--"

"Wait, Ryeowook's not ignoring you or anything, right?" Sungmin asks, a flash of anger in his voice.

"What?" Henry asks, blinking. "No, he's been a great friend."

"Oh, good," Sungmin says, and Henry can almost feel his smile over the phone. "I'm glad he's doing what I asked."

Henry blinks, and for a second he's confused, and convinced this is all some sort of elaborate ruse, a sick joke-- But he knows Sungmin wouldn't do something like that, so he asks, "Wait, what?"

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure there was someone to look after you while I was gone," Sungmin explains, laughing a little. "I worry about you, you know?"

Henry's glad Sungmin can't see his face, because the silly expression on it would be completely embarrassing. "Oh. Um. Thank you, hyung."

"No problem!" he says, instantly smoothing over any awkwardness at his confession. "So what's the deal with Ryeowook?"

 

Sungmin gives much better advice than Donghae. It's the exact same thing Henry probably would have done without having gone to Sungmin for advice, but it is always nice to have confirmation that one's idea is the right one.

And so, after filming one afternoon, Henry pulls Ryeowook aside, and shifts his feet nervously before blurting out, "Do you want to rent a movie or something later? Er. Together. Do you want to see a movie _together_?"

Ryeowook smiles brightly, says "Of course," and plants a light kiss to Henry's cheek. Ryeowook's face turns beet red, and he hurries off to catch up with the others.

He thinks again about how he'd never have to worry about this sort of stuff in Canada, and decides that he might just prefer what happens in China.


End file.
